Application of the Month: A 3D-printed Autonomous All-Terrain Vehicle

This is not a concept car that can drive itself from point A to point B, nor is it just a futuristic gadget. We are presenting a prototype autonomous vehicle designed to enhance agricultural research, developed by the startup Lemki Robotics, iScale3D, and Zeykan Robotics. The vehicle was conceived as a platform to advance precision agriculture and improve agri-food efficiency through a range of features. What is particularly interesting today is how this prototype was produced. The chassis was created using a pellet extrusion process. The result is a 400-kilogram (882-pound) vehicle measuring 2000 x 1300 x 800 mm (78.7 x 51.2 x 31.5 inches), with a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles), equipped with multiple sensors to carry out its tasks.

You may have heard of iScale3D and the startup Lemki Robotics. We met their teams some time ago to learn more about their 3D-printed camper van. Even then, they wanted to leverage the flexibility of additive manufacturing to rethink vehicle development. This time, they focused on a completely different application. Their wheeled robot could serve as a surveillance platform in many fields thanks to its modular architecture. This includes defense, where it can access more dangerous areas or optimize military logistics, as well as agriculture and infrastructure inspection.

The Autonomous Vehicle Design

Using 3D Printing to Build the Autonomous Vehicle

To design their robotic platform, the teams used Fused Granulate Fabrication (FGF), a process that deposits plastic granules layer by layer. For the chassis, they chose 20% glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) to achieve greater strength while optimizing weight. A robotic arm carried out the extrusion. The total printing time is unknown, but each component was completed in less than 60 hours.